Saber Marionette J

—by Mark L. Johnson

With the sequel SABER MARIONETTE J TO X starting to air in Japan as of this writing, North American audiences now have a chance to view its popular predecessor, SABER MARIONETTE J. Being one of the new titles in Animevillage.com's starting lineup, the entire series should be available for purchase through their website by the time this review comes out.
The series takes place on Terra 2, a planet populated by genetic clones of the remnants of a colony ship disaster. However, since all the descendants are male, female shaped androids called "Marionettes" were created. These marionettes had no emotion, which makes the discovery by the hero Otaru (Imai Yuka) truly special. By luck or destiny, he awakens Lime (Hayashibara Megumi), a cute innocent marionette with great power and an undying love for Otaru.
Soon afterwards he is joined by Cherry (Shiratori Yuri), a cultured conservative soul with wild fantasies, and Bloodberry (Hiramatsu Akiko), who perhaps is quite the opposite of Cherry and truly a powerhouse.
Sure enough, the marionettes move in with Otaru and generally shake up the neighborhood with some quite humorous results. And eventually, they play a major part in the struggle of the planet, and find out more about what really happened on that original colony ship.
The city-state that much of the story resides in is called Japoness, and is a strange hybrid between Meiji period Japan and modern day. Gartlant on the other hand, controlled by Faust, is a distopian military state run with an iron fist, and threatens to take over the planet. Faust also has three special marionettes of his own: Tiger, Luchs, and Panther.
As this is currently available only subtitled, the voices are all performed by veteran seiyuu. The opening and ending themes are performed by Megumi Hayashibara as well, and are both upbeat and very catchy.
The animation quality is overall a little above TV production average. There is the occasional episode where the art consistency drops dramatically and the characters appear to be off model.
The subtitles are done by the same company (Captions, Inc) who did Software Sculptures' SLAYERS series, which could have been a bit better. I found the font not as refined as other systems. However the translation seems well done in this reviewers opinion.
Of interest, the first tape that arrived on my door had duplication issues such as sound drop outs and low picture quality. However, Animevillage.com quickly sent replacement tapes to all initial purchasers at no extra charge a few days later which fixed the problems.
So overall, fans may easily see connections with other series like LAMUNE VS KNIGHT 40 & FIRE, or TENCHI MUYO. This may not be the most original series in anime, but it is fun to watch nevertheless. All the main characters are likable in their own way, and the world is an interesting look at a future with a truly strange Japanese influence. If you are looking for humor, action, and lots of cute female robots, SABER MARIONETTE J is for you.

Saber Marionette J
Released in N. America by AnimeVillage
Vol. 1 - ep 1-4
Vol. 2 - ep 5-7
Vol. 3 - ep 8-10
Vol. 4 - ep 11-13
Vol. 5 - ep 14-16
Vol. 6 - ep 17-19
Vol. 7 - ep 20-22
Vol. 8 - ep 23-25
Subtitled, VHS
Retail Price $29.95 US each
Box Set $160 US